Canon G9 smallest aperture setting is F8?

I have a Canon G9 that I recently bought. Is it true that it only goes to F8? It seems like a small range for a manual camera.

Yup, but because of the small sensor getting a large depth of field is not difficult.

F/8 is about the equivalent to f/22 on a DSLR.

I see...and that difference is due to a smaller image sensor?

tiffhens wrote in post #8398141
I see...and that difference is due to a smaller image sensor?

Actually it is the system of a small sensor and the lens design needed to accommodate it. I have been doing a lot of think about this lately so you are invited to read my following ramblings if you like.
The specs of the G10 are a 1/1.7" Type CCD with 14.7 million effective pixels and a lens of 6.1mm – 30.5mm zoom (28 – 140mm 35mm full frame equivalent). So in other words the lens can be of very short focal length to cover such a small piece of sensor real estate.
The reason f-8 is the smallest aperture is that f-stops is the factor of lens focal length divided by the size of the physical aperture opening. In other words, the aperture opening size for f-8 is 1/8th of the focal length of the lens you are shooting with. At 6.1mm (28mm full frame equivalent) the physical aperture size is 6.1mm x 1/8 = 0.7625mm. That is about 1/32” or a pin hole. Go to the other end and you have f-2.8. At 6.1mm x 1/2.8 = 2.2mm. That is still a very small opening and produced considerable depth of field (DOF) even when shooting wide open. Great for landscapes but not so great when you want shallow depth of field, such as portraits.
Now compare that to a full frame 35mm system . At 28mm the physical aperture size is 28mm x 1/8 = 3.5mm. That is about 1/8” or 4 times larger than the G10 for the equivalent f-8. Go to the other end, at 28mm the physical aperture size of f-2.8 is 10mm or about 7/16”. Resulting DOF Totally different.
So in the end, f-2.8 on the 6.1mm lens of the G10 is about the same physical size as f-11 of a 28mm full frame 35 mm system with f-8 the same as f-32 respectively.
Well, I hope that was worth your time. Have fun with your new G10. It is a great tool!
Best regards,
mteetank